So I am trying to refresh my breaks, they weren't working hardly at all. I replaced the master cylinder, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware on the front wheels. I bleed the breaks and have good pressure but the damn thing still doesn't stop hardly! What could I be missing? How tight should the wheels be after adjustment? I've never done this before. It's been an absolute nightmare. This is a 1970 E100 by the way. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FletcherSyntax wrote:So I am trying to refresh my breaks, they weren't working hardly at all. I replaced the master cylinder, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware on the front wheels. I bleed the breaks and have good pressure but the damn thing still doesn't stop hardly! What could I be missing? How tight should the wheels be after adjustment? I've never done this before. It's been an absolute nightmare. This is a 1970 E100 by the way. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Are they disk or drum on the front? Did you inspect the condition of the rear brakes? Was the truck setting unused for a long time before you got it?

A bad day Drag Racing is still better than a good day at work!

I am still hunting for a project car to build but with my current low budget it's not looking so good. My Ex- Fleet of Sixes these are all long gone! 1954 Customline 223 3 speed with O/D, 1963 Fairlane project drag car with BB6, 1977 Maverick 250 with C4, 1994 F-150 a 300 with 5 speed.

FletcherSyntax wrote:So I am trying to refresh my breaks, they weren't working hardly at all. I replaced the master cylinder, wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware on the front wheels. I bleed the breaks and have good pressure but the damn thing still doesn't stop hardly! What could I be missing? How tight should the wheels be after adjustment? I've never done this before. It's been an absolute nightmare. This is a 1970 E100 by the way. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Are they disk or drum on the front? Did you inspect the condition of the rear brakes? Was the truck setting unused for a long time before you got it?

Drum brakes on the front and it has been well driven almost every day.

I think I just have to adjust all the break tensioners better but I'm not sure.

Depends did you use the stock hardware kit with self adjusting or the manual type? With the manual type you adjust them until they drag enough to stop the wheel from being turned by hand then back them off so there is no drag. How you assemble the brakes can make a difference too. The self adjuster type adjust themselves as you back up and apply the brakes.

The short shoes go to the front of vechical and the long in the rear. If the drums are not true it can cause trouble, if when you are applying the brake you can feel a little bouncing in the brake pedal then drums are likely out of round. Dose the brake pedal seem excessively hard to push? Good luck

A bad day Drag Racing is still better than a good day at work!

I am still hunting for a project car to build but with my current low budget it's not looking so good. My Ex- Fleet of Sixes these are all long gone! 1954 Customline 223 3 speed with O/D, 1963 Fairlane project drag car with BB6, 1977 Maverick 250 with C4, 1994 F-150 a 300 with 5 speed.

bubba22349 wrote:Depends did you use the stock hardware kit with self adjusting or the manual type? With the manual type you adjust them until the drag enough to stop the wheel from being turned by hand then back them off so there is no drag. How you assemble the brakes can make a difference too. The self adjuster type adjust themselves as you back up and brake.

The short shoes go to the front long in rear. If the drums are not true can cause trouble if when you are applying the brake you can feel a little bouncing in the brake pedal then drums are likely out of round. Dose the brake pedal seem excessively hard to push? Good luck

OK, so, the drums are definitely good, no bounce in the pedal.

They are manual adjust and thanks for explaining the adjustment! That makes perfect sense and is a huge help.

The break pedal Does seem too hard to push. And if I stomp on it, I kind of roll to a stop. So it does stop, just definitely not well. Someone said it could be air in the lines but I thought that makes the pedal soft.

The back breaks are way too tight. Lots of drag. The front ones are adjusted correctly.

Certainly if you have air in the lines it needs to be removed. Some good signs pointing to air in the lines is a mushy, sponginess, or that the brake pedal would go further to floor on the first press of the brake pedal, then with a release and another press on the the pedal will come up higher.

First thing to check is if there is any free play of the brake pedal. Using your hand lightly push the pedal to feel if there is any free travel, your looking for an amount of 3/16 to 1/4 of free travel before the push rod starts to move the master cylinders piston. This can be adjusted by the cam bolt that connects the push rod to the brake pedal.

After you have gotten the free travel right make sure you have the front and rear brake shoes adjusted correctly as in above post. If the shoes are excessively tight or dragging the shoes will be getting hot causing fade and poor stopping performance as well as dropping your fuel economy. Lastly if it still doesn’t work as you would like you might change the master cylinder for one that has a larger piston diameter which will have less pushing force required to get the brakes to stop better. Good luck

A bad day Drag Racing is still better than a good day at work!

I am still hunting for a project car to build but with my current low budget it's not looking so good. My Ex- Fleet of Sixes these are all long gone! 1954 Customline 223 3 speed with O/D, 1963 Fairlane project drag car with BB6, 1977 Maverick 250 with C4, 1994 F-150 a 300 with 5 speed.

Hi FletcherSyntax, just wondering if you made any progress on getting your brakes to work better?

A bad day Drag Racing is still better than a good day at work!

I am still hunting for a project car to build but with my current low budget it's not looking so good. My Ex- Fleet of Sixes these are all long gone! 1954 Customline 223 3 speed with O/D, 1963 Fairlane project drag car with BB6, 1977 Maverick 250 with C4, 1994 F-150 a 300 with 5 speed.